Despite some early morning drizzle and a long train journey, 16 of us gathered at Grange Hill Station on the mysterious loop on the far end of the Central Line for Richard’s walk. However, emerging from the station, the sun came out and we found a nearby coffee shop which served surprisingly good coffee so all was well and for a while it appeared to be a men only walk. However, thankfully, we were joined by several ladies later on to even things up a little. Richard introduced us to the walk and we set off. Very shortly we were away from the traffic and into a woodland path that led us to wide open fields and particularly pretty views in the bright sunshine. Fields of still-green wheat were looking healthy and heralding a decent harvest later in the year. This was a mixed area of crops and hay meadows with modernised farm houses and a frequent air of affluence. Before long we arrived at our early lunch stop at Foxburrows Farm and were spoiled with the good facilities. The day was warming up fast and shade under trees was very pleasant. Leaving our lunch stop we stopped and turned round and could see the panorama of the Central London skyline above the trees and we had the usual “identify the building” session before continuing. The transmission towers at Crystal Palace were the furthest, we thought, and in clear view.

Entering Hainhalt Forest and seeing an information board about its surprisingly environmentally beneficial acid grasslands, we found a number of wooden seats made for one. Jackie decided to try one out but the group was on the move so it was only a short sit down. It didn’t look very comfortable anyway. We continued into Conduit Wood where an information board told us of the befits of coppicing and clearance management. Many old trees remained and one in particular had amazing fungus brackets. Second lunch was at a beautiful white-washed church at Lambourne. Inside was cool and inviting but shade and birdsong was to be enjoyed outside. Opportunity was taken to have a group picture by the church before we set off. Mariella obliged as usual by taking the picture. A short while later we passed a herd of alpacas enjoying a shady spot. After passing through Abridge village we headed south back towards Grange Hill. At one point Richard D sustained a scratch that was bleeding so first aid kits came out but a simple plaster seemed to do the trick. One or two of us had bought tourniquets after our first aid course but this was not to be the moment to use them! We then started a section with many stiles and if you like stiles, this was the walk for you! They were every 50 yards for quite a while as we went from field to field. Hay was being made and the smell of warm fresh hay as we walked along was very pleasing. One pretty pony seemed to love having his chin tickled and made every effort not to let us pass by without one more tickle! We passed some enormous and spectacular properties. One in particular had the feel of a superstar’s home but there we no clues as to who owned it. Not wanting to cause an alert from one of the many security cameras as we ogled at the place we continued on through fields of crops and wild flowers until we found ourselves back at the station. Richard’s timing and walk description had been spot-on and clearly the warm sunshine had helped make this a lovely walk. We thanked him and then had to work out the best way back on this shuttle-service little piece of the Central Line. All became clear as a Woodford-bound train came in to connect to the main line and we trundled our way back into London.